Nuggets play host to Howard-less Hawks

The Denver Nuggets dealt with Dwight Howard multiple times each season when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.

They may only have to face him once this season, and it won't be Friday night when they host the Atlanta Hawks at Pepsi Center.

Howard, the All-Star center signed with the Hawks in the offseason, didn't travel with the team to Denver and will miss his third straight game because of a back injury. Head coach Mike Budenholzer and Howard told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday the back is improving but the team is being cautious with him.

"It's a lot better than it was a couple days ago," Howard told the newspaper. "It continues to get better. We'll see how it feels tonight and go from there."

The Hawks split a pair of games without Howard, including a 92-84 home defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. That's not all the bad news from the game. Guard Tim Hardaway Jr. left in the first quarter with a right groin injury and didn't return. He came back to the bench in the second half and his status for Friday's game has not been announced.

Beating Denver is a tall order with or without Howard and maybe no Hardaway. The Nuggets are playing well despite their loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. That came on the second of a back-to-back and against a good team. The game was close in the second quarter before the Clippers built a 22-point lead and coasted to a 119-102 win.

Before that loss the Nuggets (12-17) had won three straight, all by double digits, and re-established their dominance on home court. The resurgence coincided with the team becoming fully healthy, and that has ignited trade rumors, specifically surrounding Will Barton.

He's been involved in trade rumors since last year when he had a breakout season with Denver. But with his team-friendly contract that goes through the 2017-18 season, Barton is worth keeping unless the offer is too good.

The talks don't bother the 25-year-old guard, who has stated emphatically he wants to stay in Denver.

"They know I want to be here. It's no secret," Barton told The Denver Post. "I want to be a part of this core that gets it right. I feel like we're making huge strides. We're right there, kind of fighting for that eighth seed. I feel like we've just gotten our team completely healthy, and I want to be part of that and they know that."

The Nuggets haven't made the playoffs since 2013 when they won an NBA franchise-best 57 games. They haven't come close to the postseason since, but despite that loss they were tied with the Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings for the eighth seed going into Thursday's action.

The Hawks (14-15) also occupy the eighth seed, although in the Eastern Conference. They will have to play better than they did against the Timberwolves, which might not be a stretch considering they are 7-7 on the road, including a win in Oklahoma City on Monday.

That was tempered by the loss to Minnesota.

"That's life in the NBA," Millsap told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "You win an emotional game on the road, a big-time game, and then you come home, play a team that you are supposed to beat and you lose. It's the NBA. Every night you have to bring that same intensity."